Convertible skates



Feb. 24, 1959 w. B. MALL CONVERTIBLE SKATES 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed May 31, 1957 R O N E V m W/LL/S 5. MALL I 9 TYOE/VE vs.

1959 w. B. MALL 7 70 CONVERTIBLE SKATES Filed May 31, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' INVENTOR;

United States Patent 2,81 ,9 u mmw ras WillisB. Mall, Union-,CimPai Application May 3 1 ,,1 957, Serial 1lo. 662,749 4 Claims (Cl; .2807'.1=3):

The; invention relates; to skates ofi thetype-wherein a roller skate may be converted, to an ice: skate, and vice versa.

Qka a of a: co er iblena te re ou e, lready hn own, It is the main object of the present invention, in this connection, to provide, an improved skate that will beparticularly designed to simplify and-facilitate the conversion of a skate either to atroller skate entice-skate, whi hev r s. desired.

Another object is to provide aconvertible skate of the ch aster describedthat will be so designed, as to insure heblade ss ly he roller ass mb y; whi h w y. b as use w ll e s e r y anehored t the. skate and: ll not ork ose An. imp r ant jec ;v the; n en ion is to: provide r ion ska e; me ns: so des g e t t. s a dard roller kates a be. swi y converted, to ice skates- A. tar obiet,. s,tQ "p o de: ai onve sion skate-1 ass desi ned h t e; i we. kate; unit will. mount t ached t ams-vote conv n ional roller skate unit pe dandease-i till an the Qbieetis. to, so mou t. he ice: skate; unit hat-it will be; secur at1su stantiallr the same locations, with,substantiallyv the same, strength, as is true, of c n nti na ce atest Another; object i s, to; provide a; conyersion-type, skate Whihwill: permit the conversion to be; effected without th t equir meut: p c altto ls; oth r; than; th gular. conventional i wrench; employed with roller skates;- of con,- veu na t esignt 7 till another object iS'5tO,p 1 OVld e aconyersione skate whi regardless of whether itis; being used. as? 'a roller skate or, as an 1 ice, skate; 'will' receive heavy shock: with;- out: weakening; of they connections,- this; being of importance, in, viewof' the: fact, that; ice: skates" are: used, in SL Phaamannerto causeserious shocks toheimparted thereto in; directions both longitudinally and: transverselvpotg hei ladet et; another object is to; provide. aconversion skate which willybedesigned to make useof inherently conve t uali o er ka e; const uc i n, at: isa hie; skate i s sp designed that the blade assembly can; be attached toga conventional roller skate frame; andshoe, merely by removal of the roller and, roller hanger means.

Other objectswill appear from the following descriptiori, th'eclaims appended thereto, and from v the annexed drawing, in which likereference characters. designate like parts throughout the several views, and whereinz a s atu ts e t rsr is s s:relies sk used in efiecting Figure 2 is-- a bottomperspectiveview showing the skate eonye rted to use as an ice skate;

"Figure 3]; is a bottom perspectiveuview showing; the shoe and the support frame; i

A Figure 4 is an enlarged bottom ,plan view of the frame and the blade assembly, the shoe being shown in dotted lines;

Figure 5 is a view substantially on line 5-5 of Figur\4, 'onth samescaleasEig'ure-t;

2,874,970 Patented Feb. 24 1 959 Figure 6 is ai -transverse sectional view, on the same scale as Figure 5 taken substantially on. line"6-6 of Figure 5 and Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view, on' tliesame scale as Figure 5, taken substantially on line 7-7" of Figure 5.

Referring to the: drawings in detail, designated at 10 is a conventional shoe, of the type used on. roller skates, said shoe having the sole 1'2 an cl heel 14-.

Riveted or otherwise fixedlysecured to the sole and heel are theopposite end portions ofa support frame generally designated at 15, and including a-substantially fiat, elongated plate '16- through which the rivets or fastening elementspass. The frame includes, at its underside, oppositely butidentically formed mounting plate units 18, 20, respectively; Referring toFigure 5; these include fiat, narrow plates 22; 24; which are secured" by rivets 25 or their equivalents to theframe plate 16. In a commercial embodiment, it would be undoubtedly preferred to usea permanent connection; between the units 18, 20 having frame plates 16, such as the illustrated rivet-type connections. -'Fhis, of course, is at the option of the manufacturer, and it is not desired .to' be restricted toany'particular type of connection, except, of course, as necessarily required by the scope of the"ap pended claims;

Integrally formed on the confronting, inner ends of, the plates 22, 24 are depending sockets 26, 28, havingdhread ed recesses; Asshown in Figure 5, the sockets diverge in a downward direction, 'beinginclined slightly out of perpendicularity to" the plane of the" framing plate' 1'6;

Integrally formed upon the outer ends of' the plates 22, 24 are downwardly openin slightly inclined outer end sockets 32. These converge a downward direction, so that oneach mounting unit, the sockets at op;- posite ends thereofareconvergent downwardly from the plate of the unit:

This is, per se, conventional construction, but is described and illustrated in detailito illustratethe manner inwhich theconversion is effected without requiring modification or redesignx of" readily obtainable,- conventional roller skate constructions.

Designated generally at 34" is an ice, skate assembly, including a relatively narrow,- elongated; rigidly eon.- stituted support plate 36, the ends of whichiarez inclined oppositely, out of the main plane of the support; plate (see Figure 5*). Thus, itisappropriate'to consider that the support plate" 36'lias a downwardly ofisetmidlength portion, andhasoppositely, upwardly projecting end. por tions' connectable to the respective mounting units 18', 20'.

At its forward end; the support plate 3i6'has. an elongated longitudinal extension 37; which is disposedrin a plane parallel to and. offset upwardly irom the plane. of the main or midlength' portion of the. support plate.

The supportplate, adjacent its forward, end; has, a rectangular'opening 38 loosely receiving the outer end socket 32 of mounting unit' 20. At its rear extremity,

plate 36 has a rearwardly opening, wide, longitudinal-slot 40,1 correspondinglyreceiving the outer end socket 30 of the-unit 18.

Formed at opposite ends of the main portionofth'e supportpl'ate 36 are openings 42, 42, receiving bolts, that are threadable into the recesses of the innerend soekets,26; 28'ofjunits 18,202, Theheadsoithe bolts bear against, the,und,erside of the. suppprtplate-QG, and thusflit is :seen, that the support, plateis fixedl stronglysecuredtoihe frame 15, atlocationssuchthatthe blade assembly will absorb to the maximum extent shocks; 1811f-v fered thereby during, the normal, use; of, the; ice; skates; In other words, the: blade: 46:? Oftthfiifblfldfii38861111311)! is secured byiconneeting portions-47ztothe support rplater36,

at the same location as the connections made in conventional ice skates, between the support plate and the blade thereof. Further, the support plate is secured to the frame 15 at substantially the same locations as a conventional support plate of an ice skate is secured to the shoe.

.In addition, the extension of the sockets 30, 32 through the openings 38, 40 serves to properly align the ice skate upon the frame, and in addition, said sockets 30, 32, which constitute lugs projecting through the apertures 38, 40, serve to prevent lateral displacement of the plate 36 in respect to the support frame 15.

It will be apparent that the conversion of a conventional roller skate such as shown in Figure 1 to an ice skate is effected speedily and easily. A conventional skate, such as shown-in Figure 1, includes a support plate 48, and further includes rear and front wheel hangers 50, 52, having stems engaging in the outer end sockets 30, 32. Still further, a conventional skate includes the rollers or wheels 54, and the rubber shock absorber 56, through which extend bolts 58 that thread into the recesses of the sockets 26, 28.

The conversion may therefore be swiftly effected by using an ordinary roller skate wrench, to remove the bolts 58, after which the roller skate assembly will be removable from the shoe, leaving the frame 15 as shown in Figure 3. Then, the ice skate assembly shown in Figures 4 and 5 is attached, and is merely positioned in engagement with the several sockets, after which the bolts 44 are threaded through openings 42 into the sockets.

It will be apparent that the conversion skate can be manufactured at comparatively low cost, considering the benefits to be obtained from the use thereof. Further, the skate has the particularly desirable characteristics that the ice skate assembly can be mounted upon a conventional roller skate, without requiring any modification or redesign of said skate. Further, the ice skate assembly can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost, and is particularly designed to receive shocks incurred during skating, in the same manner as a conventional ice skate. Still further, the disconnection of the ice skate can be effected rapidly and easily, and in this way, the skate can be swiftly reconverted to use as a roller skate.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted Within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a convertible skate the combination, with a shoe, and with a roller skate frame including a frame plate affixed to said shoe and a pair of mounting units affixed to the frame plate at locations spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, each unit including two depending projections spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, one projection of each unit having a downwardly opening, threaded socket, of an ice skate assembly comprising: an elongated support plate having portions which slope upwardly from the intermediate portion of said support plate, said sloped portions having upper ends formed with apertures, the sloped portions having openings in wardly from said apertures, the apertures receiving one projection of the mounting units and the openings registering with the other projections of the units; a blade having a plurality of fixed connections to said support plate; and connecting bolts extending through the respective openings and engaged in said sockets.

2. In a convertible skate the combination, with a shoe,

and with a roller skate frame including a frame plate afiixed to said shoe and a pair of mounting units affixed to the frame plate at locations spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, each unit including two depending projections spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, one projection of each unit having a downwardly opening, threaded socket, of an ice skate assembly comprising: an elongated support plate having portions which slope upwardly from the intermediate portion of said support plate, said sloped portions having upper ends formed with apertures, the sloped portions having openings inwardly from said apertures, the apertures receiving one projection of the mounting units and the openings registering with the other projections of the units; a blade having a plurality of fixed connections to said support plate; and connecting bolts extending through the respective openings and engaged insaid sockets, said one projection of the respective units having sides engaging the respective sides of the apertures.

3. In a convertible skate the combination, with a'shoe, and with a roller skate frame including a frame plate affixed to said shoe and a pair of mounting units aflixed to the frame plate at locations spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, each unit including two depending projections spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, one projection of each unit having a downwardly opening, threaded socket, of an ice skate assembly comprising: an elongated support plate having portions which slope upwardly from the intermediate portion of said support plate, said sloped portions having upper ends formed with apertures, the sloped portions having openings inwardly from said apertures, the apertures receiving one projection of the mounting units and the openings registering with the other projections of the units; a blade having a plurality of fixed connections to said support plate; and connecting bolts extending through the respective openings and engaged in said sockets, said one projection of the respective units having sides engaging the respective sides of the apertures, the sockets extending perpendicularly to the general planes of said sloped portions.

4. In a convertible skate the combination, with a shoe, and with a roller skate frame including a frame plate aflixed to said shoe and a pair of mounting units affixed to the frame plate at locations spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, each unit including two depending projections spaced longitudinally of the frame plate, one projection of each unit having a downwardly opening, threaded socket, of an ice skate assembly comprising: an elongated support plate having portions which slope upwardly from the intermediate portion of said support plate, said sloped portions having upper ends formed with apertures, the sloped portions having openings inwardly from said apertures, the apertures receivingone projection of the mounting units and the openings registering with the other projection of the units; a blade having a plurality of fixed connections to said support plate; and connecting bolts extending through the respective open ings and engaged in said sockets, said one projection of the respective units having sides engaging the respective sides of the apertures, the sockets extending perpendicularly to the general planes of said sloped portions, said sloped portions bearing at the outer, upper end thereof against the underside of the support plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 660,752 Evans Oct. 30, 1900 933,929 Stott Sept. 14, 1909 2,190,316 Harris Feb. 13, 1940 2,454,321 Howard Nov. 23, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 206,209 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1939 

